Unity and the Book of Possession
by Lady Sabine of Macayhill
Summary: Sequal to A Twist of Fate. You may want to read that fic first. James Lydell/Harry Potter starts his second year of Hogwarts, but mysterious events force Unity to get involved.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: James starts his second year at Hogwarts. He hopes that it will be pleasant, but a warning from a house-elf shatters his hopes. New members join Unity, as they decide to let first-years into the group. Things appear to be pleasant at first, but despite Unity trying to be careful, mysterious events start happening, which the group must deal with.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. It belongs to one the best authors of all time, J.K. Rowling, and I merely playing in her world.

This fic is dedicated to my friend Katie and all my reviewers for the previous fic, _A Twist of Fate_.

James was up in his bedroom in the Black family home, finishing his Potions homework. He really didn't care for the Hogwarts giving out summer homework, especially considering that his Muggle school had never done that. However, that was the only thing about Hogwarts that he didn't like, besides having a boring ghost teacher for History of Magic. Everything else was great, and his first year had been very interesting. He'd discovered his godfather and 'god-wolf', was made Seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, made twenty-seven friends that formed a group called Unity, faced Tom Riddle, aka Moldydork, stopped him from getting the Philosopher's Stone, and caused all four houses to be tied for the House Cup. Oh, and he entrusted the rest of Unity with his secret, which was that he was really Harry Potter, and so far, they were doing a good job keeping it.

A knock on the door startled him. "Come in!" James called, setting down his quill. The door opened and Stella, who was now his sister by adoption and not foster sister, came in.

"Neville and Ron just Flooed over," she said. "They're in the living room waiting for you, James. And Mari said she was coming as soon as she finished her Transfiguration essay."

James welcomed a break from homework, even if it was for one of his favorite and best subjects, Potions. He jumped up, thanked Stella for telling him, and then ran downstairs.

"Hi, James!" exclaimed Neville. "Gran says I can have a birthday party and invite all of Unity!"

"That's great," replied James with a grin. "It's strange how we almost have the same birthdays. My real birthday is only the day after yours, Nev."

"But the birthday the orphanage gave you is only four days from now," said Neville. "By the way, what do you want for your birthday? I'm in charge of buying your gifts and the rest of Unity will give me their two Sickles each."

"What I really want is no summer homework, or failing that, someone to do it for me," answered James. "But that's not happening, and I know 'Mione would have a fit at the mere idea that someone do my homework for me. Just because I'm in Ravenclaw doesn't mean that I like having summer homework. Maybe 'Mione and I should have switched houses."

Neville and Ron chuckled. "Well, since you can't have what you really want, is there any lesser desire we can grant?" asked Ron.

"Well, I would like books, something to do with Quidditch, and sweets. Oh, and a commonplace book. Stella suggested that I have one considering the events of my first year." Seeing Neville's and Ron's puzzled looks, he explained, "A commonplace book is essentially a notebook to write down information for your knowledge. But I don't think you'll have to get me one, since I have a feeling that Stella will, as she's the one that brought the matter up."

There was a flare of light from the fireplace and a second later, Mari tumbled out. She calmly got up and brushed soot from her shirt and jeans. "Hi, guys. I finished my Transfiguration essay. And you guys are so lucky not to have annoying younger relatives living with you. Sakura is nice, but she can be such a pain in the neck. She keeps chattering away, asking a whole bunch of questions, and to top it off, is rather smart and likes to show it off. And there's her whole pouting over not being able to attend Hogwarts until next year."

James couldn't help laughing. "Hello, kettle. This is pot. You're black. That's exactly what you're doing, Mari. Remember the pouting you did after Stuart and Stella told us about the wizarding world? You were so mad that you were only eight and couldn't attend Hogwarts for another three years!"

Mari smiled wryly. "All right, all right, I get your point." Seeing Neville's and Ron's confused expressions, she clarified, "There's a Muggle saying that goes 'A case of the pot calling the kettle black'. In other words, it would be accusing someone of something you've done or you are yourself."

The four of them began a game of Exploding Snap, which was interrupted halfway by the arrival of Kyle and Hermione, who both happened to live within an hour's drive away from London. Hermione had finished her summer homework already and was sternly telling Kyle that she was not letting him copy off her History of Magic essay, the one subject that he was not very good in, as he kept mixing up dates, places, and people.

After the greetings, Kyle said, "My parents say I can spend the night with you, James, if your godfather agrees."

"I'm sure Uncle Padfoot will say yes." James had gotten into the habit of calling his godfather the same thing he had done as a one-year old, albeit not in baby-talk anymore. He left the living room briefly to ask Sirius and came back with permission and a tray of drinks and some snacks.

The Exploding Snap game resumed and after it ended with Kyle winning, something startling occurred. There was a small crack and a house-elf appeared in the middle of the room. Hermione was gaping, as she had never seen a house-elf before, as Kreacher, the Black family elf, hadn't shown himself during her visit a week ago.

"Erm, hello," said James when he'd recovered from his shock. "Who are you, and why are you here?"

"I is being Dobby the house-elf," said the elf, bowing deeply. "Dobby is here to -" He broke off and stared at James, who had not assumed his guise of Stella and Stuart's brother since he was with people that knew his secret. "Is you being Harry Potter?"

James silently cursed and said, "I'm a Metamorphmagus, so I can change my appearance to whoever I want. Why can't I decide to look like Harry Potter? This is my real look." He quickly moved his scar to his back, turned his hair red, and changed his features to look like the Lydell twins.

Dobby didn't look completely convinced, but didn't pursue the matter, instead asking, "Is you being James Lydell? The one that is facing He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and stopping him from returning to power?"

James nodded and Dobby then turned to Mari and Kyle. "Then Dobby is guessing that you is Mariko Kishi and Kyle Melling, who is helping James."

"Yes," said Mari. "Dobby, why are you here? Did the family you're working for send you here?"

The house-elf shook his head. "No. Dobby's family is not knowing about this. Dobby must punish himself most greviously for coming here to warn you."

Mari completely ignored the fact about a warning to demand, "Punish yourself? And what kind of punishment would that be?"

"Dobby will be shutting his ears in the oven door to-"

"You will not!" snapped Mari, while the other five looked horrified or shocked. "The two house-elves my aunt and uncle have never punish themselves like that. If they do something that they feel deserves punishment, they go to my aunt and uncle, who either lets them off or assigns them a chore to do."

"Dobby's masters are not like that," said Dobby sadly. "They is expecting -" He broke off and began banging his head against the wall.

James pulled him away and said, "Please don't do that. Just sit down, please, and explain why you are warning us."

Dobby promptly burst into loud tears, saying that no wizard had ever asked him to sit down before like a equal and that he had to punish himself as he'd almost spoken ill of his masters. James couldn't help comparing this behavior with Kreacher, who had no problem with muttering that Sirius was a bloor-traitor and disappointment to his mother and other uncomplimentary things, though Kreacher never said anything bad about James and his siblings as they made a point of being nice to him.

Hermione looked indignant, as what Dobby said implied that he was not well-treated at all. Ron, who hadn't liked Kreacher the one time they'd met, had a different opinion of Dobby based on his expression, and asked, "What family do you work for, Dobby? If you can tell us."

"T-The Malfoys," stammered Dobby, hiccuping.

At that, the six preteens in the room looked angry now, other than Mari, who was too busy calming the elf down to show her anger. Once Dobby had regained his composure somewhat, he explained that he was warning them about a plot that would happen at Hogwarts. Mari was the main target, as the Malfoys weren't too happy with what she had started in Slytherin, and hoped that it might discredit her and her prominent relatives. Dobby couldn't go into any specifics without having to punish himself, but he did say that Mari, James, and Kyle shouldn't return to Hogwarts. He added that it wouldn't be safe for the rest of Unity, either, but admitted that it would look odd if thirty second-years were absent.

James and Kyle said firmly that they had no intention of not returning to Hogwarts, and Mari added that she would be extra careful. Dobby tried to argue with them, but the sound of footsteps scared him into disappearing. A few seconds later, Sirius and Remus walked into the living room. "What's going on?" asked Remus, seeing the expressions.

James hastily explained about Dobby and the warning he had given. Remus frowned and said that he speak to Dumbledore about it, while Sirius cautioned the preteens to be careful and to pass on the message to the rest of Unity. He added, "While I am proud of what Unity did in the matter of the Philosopher's Stone, it was still a dangerous and reckless thing to do. Please try to stay out of trouble this year. I mean, trouble that doesn't involve pranks."

The six promised and then James got out his notebook to write the rest of Unity about Dobby and the warning.


	2. Chapter 2

**I AM EXTREMELY SORRY, BUT THERE WILL BE NO FUTURE CHAPTERS FOR THIS FIC. IN FACT, I HAVE DECIDED TO GIVE UP WRITING FANFICTION ENTIRELY. I APOLOGIZE, BUT IT HAS TO BE DONE. AS A PARTING GIFT, I LEAVE A POEM I WROTE ON DOBBY, SINCE HIS DEATH IN THE SEVENTH BOOK AFFECTED ME GREATLY AND HIS APPEARNCE IN THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THIS FIC INSPIRED ME TO WRITE ONE. ENJOY.**

_We meet Dobby the house-elf_

_At the beginning of book two_

_And though he's a bit strange_

_To Harry Potter he's very true,_

_He came to warn about a plot_

_And tried to make Harry see._

_At the end Lucius Malfoy was _

_Tricked into setting Dobby free._

_Dobby then came to Hogwarts_

_And was paid for his work._

_He was better at helping Harry_

_And would never ever shirk._

_He gave Harry Potter gillyweed_

_To aid him in the Second Task._

_He showed the Room of Requirement_

_When a secret place was asked._

_Dobby willingly spied on Draco_

_When requested in the sixth book_

_And gave Harry evidence that made_

_Him wonder if Draco was a crook._

_In the last book he came to the Malfoys_

_In order to rescue Harry and friends._

_He was able to succeed but Bellatrix_

_Got him with a knife in the end._

_And so poor Dobby sadly perished_

_Harry was the one to dig the grave._

_Dobby deserved a grand funeral_

_For he was a great elf and brave._

**HA HA! APRIL FOOL'S! I REALLY HAVEN'T GIVEN UP WRITING FANFICTION AT ALL, NOR WILL I STOP WRITING THIS FIC. ANYWAY, IN HONOR OF FRED AND GEORGE'S BIRTHDAY, HERE IS THE NEXT CHAPTER FOR YOU.**

This chapter is dedicated to the first reviewer for this fic, azphxbrd.

On July 25th was James's birthday party and everyone from Unity attended, with the exception of Theo, Millie, and Daphne, whose parents would not let them come. Blaise and Tracey could, because their parents had remained neutral in the war against Voldemort and James was related to Sirius, a pureblood.

This was James's first real birthday party in his life, as Sunnybrook Orphanage didn't throw parties, though there were cake, sweets, and presents on birthdays, and the one birthday he had with his parents wasn't really a party. As he was now adopted, he was quite surprised to get a package and card from the orphanage. The card wished him a happy birthday and hoped that he was doing well with his godfather and was signed by all the staff. The package turned out to have the _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy and a pack of caramels.

His other presents were quite good, too. Not to his surprise, Stella gave him a notebook bound in blue faux leather to use for a commonplace book, as well as an eagle feather quill and another one that was dictating, with a note adding to not use the latter quill to do homework or take notes in class, as that was against Hogwarts rules. Stuart's present was the book _The Hobbit_, which was basically the prequel to the _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy. Sirius had gotten him a broomstick servicing kit and Remus a box of assorted wizarding sweets. Hagrid had sent a pair of wooden bookends carved in the shape of dragons. From Unity collectively was a book on Quodpot, which was a wizarding sport played in America that was a cross between the Muggle games of Hot Potato and Keep Away, except played on brooms, a box of chocolate frogs, and a model of the newest broom, a Nimbus Two Thousand and One.

Five days later was Neville's birthday party and James Flooed over to the Longbottom home. Mrs. Longbottom warmly welcomed everyone, even if she did sound a bit formal, and then let them to entertain themselves until cake and presents, so long as they weren't too noisy. Neville gave them a tour of the house, showed his greenhouse, and then everyone settled to play some games. After two hours, Mrs. Longbottom called everyone into the dining room for the birthday cake and presents. Unity had collectively given Neville a book on the properties of British plants and their uses in brewing potions, a box with ten packets of various seeds, and a flutterby seedling in a small pot. Neville immediately transplanted the seedling in the greenhouse and said that he would plant the seeds tomorrow. James, inspired by Stella's gift, had separately gotten Neville a notebook bound in red to use as a commonplace book to keep track of his plants and such.

Two weeks after that, the Hogwarts letters arrived. Stella took out a shiny badge of blue and bronze with a P on it from hers and promptly let out a cry of excitement. James looked up from his letter and asked, "What's the matter, Stella?"

"I've been made a prefect!" she said excitedly. "This is wonderful! Stuart, see if you've got the prefect badge too."

Stuart pulled out an identical badge and groaned. "How did I get made a prefect? I'm not exactly a model person and a stickler for rules."

"You do have the exact same grades that I do," pointed out Stella. "Which is to say, the top of all the Ravenclaws in our year. And you have only been given detention once for rule-breaking, while your two friends have gotten it twice or three times. And the other two in your dorm aren't exactly good prefect material. I guess you were the best choice."

"You're twins, and like to do stuff together, so why can't you be prefects together?" asked James. "And it'll look good when you're applying for a job, Stuart."

"It doesn't matter whether or not I was a prefect when I apply to be an Auror," snapped Stuart. "As long as I get Exceeds Expectations or Outstanding on my required NEWTs and pass the training program, I'll become an Auror. The prefect thing only applies if I want to be in charge of a team, and that's not going to happen until I've been an Auror for a few years first. By that time, I will have shown whatever leadership qualities I have that the prefect thing won't matter much, anyway."

"Being a prefect isn't that terrible a thing," said Sirius.

"How do you know, were you a prefect, Sirius?" demanded Stuart.

"Nope," answered Sirius. "Nobody in their right mind would have made me a prefect. I was in detention too much with Prongs. Moony was the good boy, though, he got the badge."

"I think Dumbledore thought that I would be able to exercise control over my friends," said Remus with a laugh. "Needless to say, I failed miserably."

"Oh come on, you did talk us out of doing a few dangerous pranks and stopped us from going too far with Sniv-I mean Snape. I wish I wasn't beholden to him and didn't have to deal with him holding it over me. At least he accepted my apology for how I treated him back in Hogwarts."

"Well, you and Dad did go to far with Snape," said James. "When you target one person or group exclusively, it's not all fun and pranks anymore, it's bullying. Just because he came out as annoying when you first met him didn't give you the right to target him. Draco Malfoy's annoying, but you don't see me hexing him at every opportunity."

"Hey, who's the adult here?" asked Sirius good-naturedly. "I'm your godfather, I should be the one lecturing you."

"But I've never done anything to deserve lectures, except play the occasional prank, which you don't mind, and stop Moldydork from getting the Stone, which was necessary since Snape wouldn't believe that it would be targeted and Unity didn't feel comfortable approaching another teacher. Anyway, when are we going to Diagon Alley?"

A date was set, which was the same day that the Weasleys, Grangers, Longbottoms, Kyle and his parents, the Boneses, Mari and her relatives, and the Patils were going. The day of the trip, the Lydells and Sirius Flooed to Diagon Alley. Unfortunately, James coughed on ash while he was saying his destination and ended up in Knockturn Alley, the shop Borgin and Burkes to be exact. He hid in a nearby wardrobe when he saw Draco Malfoy and a man that must be his father approaching the shop and so overheard Mr. Malfoy selling some items he didn't want found in his home to Mr. Borgin. Then Draco noticed something called a Hand of Glory, which would cast light only for the holder, and was useful for thieves and plunderers.

Mr. Malfoy interrupted at this point, saying coldly that he hoped that his son would amount to more than a thief. "Though if his grades don't pick up, that may be all that he is fit for," he added.

Draco flushed and protested, "But the teachers all have their favorites! That Hermione Granger and Mariko Kishi-"

"I thought you would be ashamed that a girl of no wizarding parentage would do better than you in the exams. And while the Kishi girl is a pureblood, she is of Japanese descent. And you even let yourself be shown up by the younger son of the Japanese ambassadors and three others from that ridiculous group known as Unity!"

James stifled a chuckle as Draco flushed even more and privately thought that Mari and Ry were living up to the reputation Asians had of being smart. If Mari hadn't wanted to be in Slytherin, she probably would have been Sorted in Ravenclaw, and if Ry's bravery hadn't overshadowed his intelligence, he wouldn't be in Gryffindor.

Finally the Malfoys left and James made his way out of the shop. He tried to figure out how to get to Gringotts, but was saved by the appearance of Hagrid, who was there to get Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent. The gameskeeper roughly brushed soot off from James's clothing and then escorted him to Gringotts, where Mari flew down the steps to give him a hug. Sirius then appeared, looking extremely worried, and frowned when Hagrid told him that James had ended up in Knockturn Alley.

"You were lucky not to get in any danger or trouble, James Lydell-Black!" exclaimed Sirius. (When he had adopted the Lydells, they'd added Black to their name.) "Thanks, Hagrid, for rescuing him. Come on, James, we have a meeting with the goblins, remember?"

Sirius and James went to the office of a goblin named Griphook, where James resumed his normal appearance and explained that he was Harry Potter and wanted it kept a secret. "Don't worry, Mr. Lydell," said Griphook calmly. "Your secret is quite safe. The Goblin Nation does not meddle in wizarding affairs unless it concerns us in some way, and this does not." He did a spell, using a drop of blood, to confirm that James was really whom he said he was. After that, James was provided with a key to his trust vault and a listing of all the Potter assets were made. He had a property in Godric's Hollow, where his parents had lived, though the house itself was destroyed, plus the Potter manor, a vacation house in Blackpool, and a townhouse in London, from the days prominent wizarding families had social seasons like the wealthy and titled Muggle families did. There was also the Potter family vault, which contained the bulk of the Potter fortune, amounting to over twenty million Galleons, not counting Sickles and Knuts, and another two vaults. One was the Peverell family vault, which belonged to him as he was the last of their descendents, and another was inherited from his grandmother Dorea Black Potter, which had been part of her dowry. His grandmother's vault only had fifty thousand Galleons, as half of its contents had been used to set up his trust vault, and the Peverell vault had over eight million Galleons.

James could withdraw as much money as he wanted from his trust vault, but he could not touch the money in the other vaults until he turned of age. He could, however, remove certain heirlooms and other items in those vaults, and he made a note to come back when he had more leisure time and see what was in them. He politely thanked Griphook for his help, to the goblin's surprise, and went to his trust vault and withdrew some spending money, and then went with Sirius to his vault so he could withdraw money for the school supplies.

James then met up with his friends that had showed up and treated them all to ice cream cones. After that, they bought most of their supplies and headed to Flourish and Blotts to get their books. Unfortunately, the bookstore was packed, as Gilderoy Lockhart, author of the seven Defense books required on the list, was signing copies of his biography, _Magical Me_. To James's utter disgust, Hermione, Susan, and Parvati seemed to be rather enamored with Lockhart. Thankfully Mari and Padma had more sense, though they were still quite impressed with him as he had done many great things. according to his books.

Lockhart unfortunately spotted Mari, her relatives, and Sirius. He insisted on dragging them up front to have their photos taken with him, and presented them each with copies of his entire works. This was followed by the announcement that he was the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts.

Sirius and Mrs. and Mr. Hirashi, looking annoyed, extracted themselves from the crowd and handed the free books they gotten to the Weasley twins and Ron, saying that they had no use for them. Sakura, who had no need for them either as she had one more year before she could attend Hogwarts, decided to give her set to Ginny.

Draco Malfoy appeared then, looking sour. He knocked into Mari, causing her to fall and her bag of books to spill. "Oh, sorry, didn't see you," Malfoy sneered, not sounding sorry at all.

Ry glared at him and then bent down to help Mari gather up her books. Mrs. Hirashi came over and said frostily, "Young man, you need to watch where you are going. You can't go around knocking to people. What is your name? And where are your parents? I would like to have a word with them regarding your behavior."

"Draco Malfoy," Malfoy said reluctantly.

"Then your father would be Lucius Malfoy," said Mrs. Hirashi. "He was very polite and sociable when I met him. You don't seem to be much like him in that regard. And there he is now. Mr. Malfoy, I would like to have a word with you regarding your behavior with your son. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going and knocked into Mariko. And his apology wasn't much of one, since he didn't sound at all sorry, and was sneering at the same time. Please have him act as properly as you do, Mr. Malfoy."

"I apologize for my son's behavior," said Mr. Malfoy smoothly. "He won't act like that again. Draco, is that understood?"

"Yes, Father," said Draco. He then turned to Mrs. Hirashi and Mari and said in an apologetic voice, "I am sorry about my behavior, Mrs. Hirashi. And I am truly sorry for knocking you over, Mariko."

"Yeah, right," muttered Ry. "You did that on pur-"

"Ryouto Hirashi, stop that this instant!" interrupted Mrs. Hirashi sternly. "You're still young enough to be given a spanking and sent to your room for a day. I will not have you being disrespectful after I've just been done talking to someone else regarding their child's behavior."

"Sorry, Mother," said Ry. He didn't dare argue with his mother, as children were brought up to be respectful to their elders in Asian cultures. "And I'm sorry, Draco, for accusing you of doing it on purpose."

"Apology accepted," muttered Draco and then he and his father left.

The books were all paid for and then everyone had lunch at the Leaky Cauldron before heading to their respective homes. The preteens couldn't help being annoyed with Malfoy, and wondering why he had knocked into Mari, besides being rude. Kyle recalled reading in a book that running into people was a method pickpockets used, but Hermione pointed out, "What reason would Malfoy have to pick Mari's pockets? He has no need to steal her money, and she doesn't carry any items that would be of use to him in her pockets." In the end, they decided that Malfoy was only being rude and didn't have any other reason for doing it.

When the incident was written to the rest of Unity via their notebooks, none of them could come up with a reason why Malfoy had knocked into Mari, other than being rude. The matter was quickly dismissed and Unity decided to let any of the new first years that wanted to join the group when the school term started. Ron's sister Ginny would be a good addition, and so would Daphne's sister Asteria and Su's brother Wen-Jing. James wasn't going to tell any new members his secret anytime soon, of course, even if they were trustworthy, because enough people knew already and if he had to tell another twenty or more people, he might as well go ahead and tell the whole wizarding world. Thirty-seven people could manage to keep a secret, thought it wouldn't be easy, but sixty was stretching it and someone would be bound to let things slip.

With that decided, James began skimming through his new textbooks to see what kind of person Lockhart was, besides someone who had supposedly fought dangerous creatures and was quite popular in the wizarding world, especially among witches Mrs. Weasley's age.

Author's Note: Before someone points out that James' secret would concern the goblins as he has vaults in Gringotts, I would like to say that Griphook meant matters other than gold. The Goblin Nation could care less whether Harry Potter was found or not so long as the Potter vaults remain open in Gringotts and they can continue to manage the Potter accounts.


	3. Chapter 3

This chapter is dediated to reviewer Rori Potter.

September the first arrived and it was time to return to Hogwarts again. Unity gathered in the large compartment at the very end, which now had several seats added. Ron's sister Ginny, Daphne's sister Astoria, Su's brother Wen-Jing, and a few other first-years were invited to join them. One of them was an excitable boy named Colin Creevy, who was Muggleborn and kept asking questions about the wizarding world and Hogwarts. He also took a few pictures with his camera, and was even more excited when Theo told him that if he developed the film in a certain potion, the photos would move.

Some members of Unity looked as if they regretted inviting Colin to sit with them, but James completely understood his excitement, and anyway, Colin was a nice and friendly boy. After he'd gotten used to the wizarding world, he would surely calm down and not appear so annoying.

The Hogwarts Express finally pulled into the station and everyone dismounted. The first years went off to Hagrid, where they would cross the lake in boats. Everyone else went the carriages and James was startled to see what looked like ugly winged horses pulling them. When he pointed them out, most of Unity couldn't see them, and thought he was crazy until Kyle said, "I think they're thestrals. I've read about them and people can see them only if they've seen someone die. I can since I've seen my parents die, and James and Mari can since they saw Quirrell die when Riddle left."

Neville could see thestrals as he had seen his grandfather die, and Theo could as well, though he didn't say whom he saw die. With that settled, Unity got into the carriages and soon they set off.

When the first years came in the Great Hall, James spotted a girl with long dirty-blonde hair, large silvery gray eyes, had her wand tucked behind her left ear, and as accessories had a necklace made of butterbeer corks and earrings that seemed to be made of radishes. She appeared to be quite odd. Next to her was a girl with black hair done in a braid, square glasses, her nose buried in a book, and wearing robes that were a little shabby and slightly out of date. Behind them were Colin and Ginny.

The Sorting Hat then proceeded to sing a song about the Founders and four houses, which was different than the one it sang before. After that, McGonagall unrolled a scroll and began calling the new first-years up alphabetically to be Sorted. Colin was the fifth name called and he was Sorted into Gryffindor. Like Ry and Neville had done the previous year, he was so excited that he ran off wearing the hat and had to be called back by McGonagall to give it to Sorrel Davidson.

Astoria went to Slytherin and happily took a seat next to her sister. Next was "Hammond, Bianca." Nobody stepped forward when the name was called. After a few seconds, McGonagall repeated the name and the girl with the strange accessories nudged the girl that was reading. She looked up as McGonagall called her name a third time, looking impatient.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Professor, I wasn't paying attention!" apologized Bianca as she ran to the stool.

The Hat was on her head for about two second before shouting, "RAVENCLAW!"

James, not at all surprised based on how she had been so immersed in her book, joined in the applause as she made her way to the Ravenclaw table and took a seat next to Mandy. Bianca stopped reading only long enough to wait until the odd girl, who turned out be named Luna Lovegood, was Sorted. The Hat took about half a minute before it shouted out, "RAVENCLAW!", as had it just done for Wen-Jing Li a name ago. Luna, a dreamy smile on her face, removed the Hat and took a seat on Bianca's other side. The two girls exchanged smiles and expressed their happiness at being in Ravenclaw together and then Bianca resumed reading.

Sorrel, who was sitting across from them, gave Luna a look that said quite clearly that she didn't care for the odd accessories. A few names later, a girl named Agatha Redding was Sorted into Ravenclaw and as soon as she sat down, Sorrel whispered in her ear. The two started giggling in a nasty way and Agatha shot Luna a superior look.

Ginny was the last name to be called and she went to Gryffindor. After that, Dumbledore stood up to announce the beginning of the feast and Bianca set her book down long enough to fill her plate and have a brief chat with Luna. When the conversation was over, Bianca resumed reading, while methodically eating at the same time. She was quite clearly a bookworm, even more so than the ones James knew, for they didn't read and eat at the same time except on a few occasions, and feasts weren't one of them. For the rest of the feast, he saw Bianca only put her book down two times, once to refill her plate, once to get some dessert and ask Luna if the pudding was any good.

After the conclusion of the feast, Dumbledore made his announcements, with only the Forbidden Forest off limits, and introduced Lockhart as the new Defense teacher. Unity all made disgusted faces, for Mari and Lisa Turpin had noted some discrepancies in his books, mainly a few events that happened at the same time. They'd told the rest of the group, who confirmed it, and now they were all wondering if Lockhart was a fraud.

Then the school song was sung and everyone was allowed to go to their respective common rooms. Bianca, who had set down her book when Dumbledore had gotten up to make his announcements, picked it up again and resumed reading as she followed the rest of the Ravenclaws out of the Great Hall. Like Belle, from the Disney movie _Beauty and Beast_ that had come out the previous year, Bianca seemed to be able to walk and read at the same time without any mishap.

Outside the entrance to the common room, the knocker asked, "Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?"

"Neither," responded Bianca, not looking up from her book. "Their life cycle is like a circle, with no end and no beginning."

"Correct," said the knocker and they were allowed to enter. Stella and Stuart welcomed the first-year Ravenclaws, showed them where the dormatories were, and told them that they were available if they had questions or needed directions to other places in the castle. The second-year Ravenclaws that were a part of Unity then told the first-years about the group and its aims, and Luna, Bianca, and three of the boys (Adam Benson, Ryan O'Conner, and Ian Selwyn) all expressed their interest in joining. The other two boys were uncertain, and Agatha said for the three remaining girls that they weren't going to be in Unity if a weird girl like Luna was joining.

James frowned and would have said something, except the third girl, Tabitha Edmunds, said that they were tired and the three went upstairs for bed. Bianca frowned and said, "Just because Luna has a different taste in accessories than them doesn't make her weird. She's a perfectly nice girl. Come on, Luna. You said I could read your father's magazine and since I'm done with my book, I would like to read it now." Luna, a delighted smile on her face, handed Bianca a magazine entitled _The Quibbler_ and the two girls went up to their dorm room.

The next morning, at breakfast, Agatha, Tabitha, and Sorrel started making rude comments on Luna and apparently had decided to nickname her 'Loony'. Bianca slammed her book shut and snapped, "Shut up! Just because Luna's father is an editor of a magazine that could be the equivalent of a Muggle tabloid and she has, um, unique beliefs, doesn't give you the right to make fun of her! And I thought I told you earlier not to call her 'Loony' again!"

"We can call her what we want," Agatha said nastily. "She is 'Loony', what with her crazy theories about the Ministry and believing in stupid creatures like the Snorkie that don't exist."

"She has the right to believe what she wants!" retorted Bianca. "So leave her alone or I'll start calling you 'Hagatha!' Because that's what you're acting like, a hag."

There were some giggles and snickers from the other Ravenclaws. Stella hid a smile and said sternly, "Okay, that's enough. Agatha, leave Luna alone and don't tease her just because she's different, or I'll have to give you a detention. The same goes for your two friends. Bianca, good job defending your friend, but next time don't be so loud about it."

James gave Stella a smile, pleased at how she'd handled things. Just because Luna gave off an aura of dottiness and had different beliefs didn't mean that she deserved to be teased or bullied. It was sort of like what Kyle had gone through after he'd been adopted. James made a note to get to know Luna better, which wouldn't be difficult as she wanted to join Unity, and take a look at her father's magazine later. The schedules were handed out then and he began focusing on his schedule and breakfast.

Author's Note: Sorry that this chapter is a bit short. I'll try to make the next one longer.


	4. Chapter 4

This chapter is dedicated to Sabaku no Sable.

By dinnertime that day, news of Lockhart's disastrous class with the second-year Gryffindors had spread around the school. After giving a quiz on his books, which consisted mostly of questions about himself, like his favorite color and secret ambition, he had presented a cage of pixies for the class to deal with. Any competent witch or wizard could deal with them, but it seemed that Lockhart couldn't.

After the pixies were loose, they proceeded to cause havoc in the classroom. Lockhart had attempted to do a spell, but it didn't work, and Sally-Ann Perks said that it had sounded a great deal like "Pesky pixie pesters no me." The pixies were only stopped when Hermione did a Freezing Charm on some of them and the other Gryffindors in Unity copied the spell on the rest. The only positive result of the class was that Gryffindor had won eighty points, ten when Hermione had gotten every question right on the quiz, and seventy when the pixies were immobilized. (Ten for each person that did the spell.)

All of Unity was now convinced that Lockhart was a fraud, and a number of the other students were questioning him as well.

After dinner, Mari was going through her books and paused when she pulled out a rather old diary from her trunk. "What in the world?" she asked, as she examined the diary further. "What is this doing in my trunk? I already have the diary that Kyle gave me for my last birthday."

The diary seemed to be blank, and a Revealer and a spell for showing invisible ink turned up nothing. She flipped to the cover page and saw that it had come from a shop in Vauxhall Road about fifty years ago, which meant the previous owner was a Muggleborn or raised in the Muggle world. Though why it was blank was a mystery, unless he or she had gotten it for a present and wasn't much for writing in diaries. That was when she spotted the words, "Property of T. M. Riddle."

Mari instantly dropped the diary, a horrified look on her face. Only one person she knew of had those initials and last name, and that was Tom Marvolo Riddle, a.k.a. Voldemort. But how did his empty diary end up among her books? She suspected that it must have been planted that day Draco Malfoy had bumped into her at Flourish and Blotts and caused her to drop all her books. After all, Dobby had said that she was going to be the main target of a plot at Hogwarts, and she wouldn't be surprised if the Malfoys did have things that belonged to Moldydork.

Just because the diary was blank didn't mean that it was harmless, though. Mari wouldn't put it past Tom Riddle or the Malfoys to have put all manner of spells on it. She snatched it up and ran out the Slytherin common room. She stopped at a classroom and threw the diary in a dustbin, which had a broken quill and several balled-up pieces of parchment, and proceeded to set it on fire. After a minute, she removed the spell and ran out the room, not looking at the damage or noticing that she'd knocked the rubbish bin over in her haste to leave. This was a mistake, for while the quill and parchment had been reduced to ashes, the diary was not harmed at all, for it couldn't be burned by ordinary fire. Also, it had fallen out onto the floor, along with some the ashes, when the rubbish bin had fallen.

A few minutes later, a student happened by and saw the overturned bin and diary. The student picked up the diary and after finding that it was empty, slipped it into the school bag, righted the dustbin, and walked away. Said student had been meaning to get a diary to write in, after all.

The next morning at breakfast, James saw Bianca walk in the Great Hall, her nose buried in a book and Luna next to her, chattering away about something, most likely something in _The Quibbler_ or one of her strange theories. Unlike the time at the Sorting where Bianca hadn't heard her name being called, she seemed to be able to pay attention both to her book and Luna's talk, because every so often she'd nod and make a comment that wasn't "Yes," or "I see," but rather something related to the subject at hand. Not only that, but she also noticed her surroundings, because she didn't bump into anything, and stepped over Sorrel's foot when the other girl tried to trip her. Luna, however, ended up tripping, but Bianca whirled around and grabbed Luna's sleeve to keep her from falling, still not looking up from her book.

She did look up, though, when she turned on Sorrel. "You are a despicable girl!" she snapped. "Tripping Luna and trying to trip me!" Her glasses slipped down her nose in her anger and she impatiently pushed them back up. "Didn't you parents ever teach you to be polite to others, no matter how different they are from most people?"

Stuart came over, an unreadable look on his face. "Okay, that's enough. We don't need any confrontations at mealtimes. Sorrel, don't go around tripping others, or next time I'll make you write 'I will not trip people' one hundred times as punishment. Bianca, please try to control your temper, all right?"

"But you don't know how terrible Sorrel and her two friends are behaving towards Luna! And to a lesser extent, me," Bianca said as an afterthought.

"Well, I haven't witnessed any of it, other than what happened a minute ago, so I can't do anything, Bianca," said Stuart. "However, Sorrel, Agatha, and Tabitha, leave Luna and Bianca alone. If you don't like the fact that Luna is different from the three of you and that Bianca is willing to stand up for her friend, then just ignore them. Don't go around playing tricks on them or calling them names and such. Or getting some of the other Ravenclaws to go along with you. Stella already had to tell of Marietta Edgecombe for calling Luna 'Loony' and that first-year Darryl Villars for saying all that rude stuff. Such things are not tolerated at Hogwarts, and the Ravenclaw prefects, at least, will not stand for it."

Sorrel stood up and snapped, "Do you know who I am? Or who my friends are? Our parents are -"

"I don't care who your parents or your friends' parents are," interrupted Stuart. "I am a prefect, which gives me authority over the other students, and therefore that means you will obey me unless what I say contradicts a school rule or what one of the teachers, the headmaster, or the caretaker says. And since telling you to leave two students alone and not tease or bully them doesn't contradict a rule and none of the staff would say otherwise, you will do as I say or deal with the consequences."

James hid a grin, thinking that Stuart probably didn't mind being prefect now, since he had the authority to tell off other students and hand out punishments. Bullying and teasing was near or at the top of the list of Stuart's pet peeves, and he could now be certain that people would listen when he told them to stop unless they wanted to be punished.

Sorrel opened her mouth, but then saw McGonagall leave the staff table and walk towards them, so she desisted and sat down, a grumpy expression on her face. "What is going on here?" asked McGonagall, frowning.

"Just a small disciplinary matter, but it's been taken care of, Professor," answered Stuart.

"All right, Mr. Lydell," said McGonagall. "Everyone get back to your breakfasts!"

Stuart, Bianca, and Luna sat down and things resumed as normal. James then recalled that he wanted to get to know Luna better and asked her about her father's magazine. She was quite happy to talk about it for the rest of breakfast. He could see why people didn't think much of it, but he personally would read it, if solely just for the entertainment value. Though some of the articles in the magazine would likely have more truth in them then the articles Rita Skeeter wrote for the _Daily Prophet_. After Sirius had been found innocent, Skeeter had written an article that all but said outright that while he was innocent of being a Death Eater, he must still be hiding a shady past. At least it had also bashed Wormtail at the end. That article that had bashed Dumbledore over leaving Harry Potter at the Dursleys and not checking up on things hadn't been all that great, either.

Yes, Dumbledore should have checked up on things, but come on, he was a busy man. Not only was he headmaster of a school, but he was also Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Supreme Mugwump for the International Confrederation of Wizards. He most likely didn't have the time to check on things, and since he had so much going on, it wouldn't be surprise if it slipped his mind to ask one of the staff to go in his place. Besides, things had turned out pretty well in the end. James could hide his identity from most of the wizarding world and be a regular person, he had wonderful friends and adoptive siblings, got adopted by his godfather, and didn't live with relatives who would have no doubt at least neglected him.

Luna stopped in mid-sentence to look at him then. "James, are you paying attention to what I'm saying?"

"Oh, sorry, Luna, I got a bit distracted thinking of something else," said James. "But I was paying attention before my mind wandered. I think I'd like to subscribe to _The Quibbler_."

Luna beamed. "That would be wonderful! A year's subscription is twenty Galleons." Then she took another look at him. "You really don't have red hair, do you?"

James was startled by this question. "What kind of question is that, Luna?"

She lowered her voice and said, "If you don't want people knowing, then I won't say anything. But I know that you don't really have red hair, and you weren't born James Lydell."

He couldn't see how she could be so perceptive, but decided that underneath her odd exterior, she was wise. Then again, she had been Sorted into Ravenclaw.

Bianca, not looking from her book, said quietly so only Luna and James could hear, "I agree with Luna. She can sometimes tell when someone's in disguise or something similiar."

James was not liking this at all. "So you know what I really look like, Luna?"

Luna shook her head. "No, I don't. I can only tell that your current appearance isn't your real one. I can't see what it really is."

"You're a Metamorphmagus, aren't you?" asked Bianca, still reading. "Since I can't detect any spells on you and if you used a potion, you'd have to take it frequently and people might notice."

"Yes, I am, but please don't go around telling others," said James. "And do you ever stop reading, Bianca?"

"Yes," she snapped, finally looking up. "I don't read when I'm in the bathroom, for instance. And I can hardly read and sleep at the same time."

"I didn't mean it in an insulting way!" exclaimed James, holding up his hands. "It's just that I've never met someone who reads as much as you, and a couple of my friends have been described as bookworms. Do you find every book you pick up interesting?" As he had raised his voice now, his yearmates and a couple of other Ravenclaws overheard.

"No," answered Bianca with a grimace. "There was one book I hated. You know _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_?" Seeing that other people were listening, she explained, "Well, for those that were brought up in the Muggle world, it's the wizarding equivalent of fairy tales. Anyway, a witch named Beatrix Something-or-other decided that they weren't suitable for young children and rewrote a bunch of them. Her version of the stories are sickeningly sweet and disgusting and I think just about every child who has read them or heard them being read to them has either thrown up or wanted to. I wanted to when I came across a copy in the family library and my mother said she did throw up when she read them."

James made a face, suspecting that the stories would be all fluffy girly stuff that was full of sunshine and roses and the kind of speech that toddlers used. He could imagine how some Muggle fairy tales could be rewritten to be disgustingly sweet, like removing the wicked queen from _Snow White and the Seven Dwarves_ and having Snow White be sickening sweet and guiding the dwarves to being tidy and clean. And if you used their names from the Disney version, Grumpy would be turned to something like Happy by Snow White.

James quickly changed the subject back to what Luna had been talking about before, which was the secret experiments the Ministry was conducting.

That afternoon, after classes, Unity met in the library, along with the first-years that wanted to join (twenty-two). After reading the charter and rules, they all signed their names to show their agreement and were then taken to the Room of Requirement. They were awed by the room and gazed around in wonder.

When their initial wonder wore off, the group started on their homework. As Lockhart was an ineffective teacher, Unity decided to practice Defense on their own, like last year.


	5. Chapter 5

This chapter is dedicated to reviewer kehlencrow.

On Friday, just as he was sitting down for breakfast, James got a letter from Sirius that read,

"_Dear James,_

_I was in Diagon Alley a couple of days ago and heard a storekeeper comment on a purchase made at one of your favorite shops. This intrigued me and after some thought, I realized what the purchase must be for. Since the beneficiaries of said purchase aren't to my taste, and it would leave things rather unfair for other people, I made a purchase at the shop, three times the size of the other one. The storekeeper was extremely shocked by this, but extremely happy once he realized I was 'Sirius'. (Here James groaned at the pun, which had gotten old.)_

_Don't worry about the cost, for I can well afford it, having inherited the Black fortune, as I am the last male with the family name. I can think of no better way to spend my money. Anyway, I won't tell you what I bought, since I want it to be a surprise. However, I will visit Hogwarts tomorrow to reveal the surprise. I'm sure all of Hogwarts (except maybe half of Slytherin) will be pleased with it. Well, I hope your first week turned out fine and that Unity is having fun and your new members are doing great. Remus sends his regards and will write to you later. See you tomorrow._

_Sirius_"

James was puzzled by this and wondered what Sirius could have bought. Unfortunately, he couldn't exactly figure out what it was exactly, for his favorite shops in Diagon Alley were Quality Quidditch Supplies, Gambol and Japes, Flourish and Blotts, and the Apothecary. That meant Sirius could have bought brooms, Quidditch gear, prank items, books, or potion supplies. Since it didn't seem very likely that he would buy potion supplies, as that wasn't something that would please all of Hogwarts, it could be crossed off the list.

He handed the letter to Stella, who frowned, then gasped. "If Sirius did what I think he did, then he's completely out of his mind! But it would please most of the school, and have everyone be on an equal footing. No, James, I'm not telling you what I guessed. Sirius wants it to be a surprise and I'm making sure that it stays that way. Bianca, what do you want?"

James turned to see Bianca, a very angry expression on her face, one hand holding a book and the other clutching the sleeve of Luna's robe. Behind them were Wen-Jing and Ian, equally furious looks on their faces. "Something malevolent has happened, Stella! Luna's robes have all disappeared this morning and she and I can't find them."

"All her robes?" asked Stella, one eyebrow raised and sounding slightly skeptical. "What about the robe she's wearing?"

"It's mine, of course," responded Bianca in a tone that clearly said 'are-you-an-idiot?' "I lent it to her."

"Oh, sorry, I should have realized," apologized Stella. Her gaze flickered over to Agatha, Tabitha, and Sorrel, who were smirking, and she continued, "I take it you have an idea as to why Luna's robes are missing, Bianca?"

Wen-Jing pointed to the three girls. "I heard them all giggling about a prank in conjunction with Luna earlier. Well, they said 'Loony', but I know who they were referring to."

"That just confirmed things for me as soon as Wen-Jing told me," said Bianca. "Those three had been smirking when Luna couldn't find her robes this morning and made a whole bunch of nasty comments about it. I had to threaten to hex them before they'd shut up."

Stella turned to the trio, fixing her most McGonagall-like stare on them. "So, Luna's robes have disappeared, and I have a feeling that you either know something about it, or are the ones responsible for their disappearance. You will tell me exactly what you know about this, and don't bother lying, because I can tell when someone is lying."

James couldn't help smirking, and said, "It's true, Stella always knows when I'm lying, or when our brother Stuart is lying." That was completely true, but he had no idea if Stella could tell if other people were lying. It could simply be that she could only tell when James and Stuart were lying, since she knew them so well.

That plus the stare seemed to scare Tabitha, for she turned rather pale and babbled, "We decided that it would be fun to take Loony's, I mean Luna's, robes. We planned to return them in time for her to go to class, but then that bookworm Bianca lent her some robes, so we decided to wait until later."

Agatha said coldly, "We would have taken Bianca's robes, too, since she's always sticking up for that crazy lunatic, but she's got her trunk locked up with some sort of spell."

"Where are the robes now?" demanded Stella, keeping a tight grip on her temper.

"They're in my trunk," replied Sorrel reluctantly. "But Loony deserves to have her robes taken away for a prank! She's crazy and doesn't belong in Raven-"

"How dare you say such a thing!" Padma interrupted angrily. "Luna may be a bit odd, but she's a perfectly nice and intelligent girl and all of Unity likes her."

"And she does belong in Ravenclaw," said Ian, just as angrily. "I'm strongly tempted to hex-"

"That is enough," interrupted Stella firmly. "I am a prefect, and I will deal with this. Sorrel, you will return Luna's robes immediately following breakfast, and I will make sure you do so. And as for this prank, Agatha, Sorrel, and Tabitha, you will have a detention as punishment. I warned you that I would have to start handing out detentions if you kept up with your bothering of Luna. It wasn't an empty threat. The three of you will serve your detention tonight with Mr. Filch, at seven o'clock."

"You can't do this!" protested Sorrel. "Loony deserved the prank played on her! And do you know who my parents are?"

"Like Stuart, I don't care who your parents are," snapped Stella. "And I can do this, since I am prefect. For talking back to me, you can write, 'I will not talk back to a prefect,' one hundred times. And for calling Luna Lovegood 'Loony' after I told you not to, you can write, 'Her name is Luna Lovegood,' one hundred times as well. Both sets of lines are to be handed in to me on Monday." Stuart nodded approvingly at his twin and then fixed Sorrel with a stern look.

"If they're turned in late, you can write 'I will not hand in punishment writing late,' one hundred times as punishment also, Sorrel," he added.

"But-" began Sorrel.

"Do you want to add an additional fifty lines to the not talking back one?" demanded Stuart icily. Sorrel shook her head. "Then I suggest you don't say another word, Miss Redding."

"I'm going to take this up with Professor Flitwick!" cried Agatha. "You can't do this to us! You're abusing your power!"

"For your information, Miss Davidson, we aren't abusing our power. And whom do you think our head of house will believe, you or us? Especially when there's a whole group of witnesses that can tell him what you three have admitted to doing and how you've been acting towards Luna. You should consider yourself fortunate that I'm not reporting you to Professor Flitwick. But if such an incident happens again, we will report you three. There will be no malicious teasing and bullying of other students in Ravenclaw, even if they are different from others."

"But a detention with Filch is completely unfair!" protested Agatha. "Just for a harmless prank played on Loony!"

"It wouldn't have been so harmless if Bianca hadn't been willing to lend Luna a robe!" snapped Stella. "If Luna didn't have any robes to wear, then she wouldn't have been able to come down for breakfast, which is the most important meal of the day. If you decided to hide her clothes all the time except for class, then she wouldn't be able to go to meals, except maybe lunch, and then she'd end up starving! That certainly wouldn't be a harmless prank at all! You can write lines for punishment, too. The same as Sorrel's, to be turned in on Monday."

Tabitha had the sense to keep her mouth shut, though she certainly didn't look happy, and in fact glared at Bianca, Luna, Ian, and Wen-Jing as they sat down to eat their breakfasts. For once, Bianca didn't read as she was eating, and instead kept shooting dark looks at the other three girls in her dorm as she ate and listened to Luna talk about T_he Quibbler_.

After breakfast, Darryl tripped Luna and said a comment that James didn't catch, though judging from the smirk, it was something uncomplimentary. His dormmate Adam reacted angrily, but before he could say much, Stuart snapped, "I have had enough with this tormenting of Luna! Darryl, you have a detention with Filch tonight also, and will write 'I will not purposely trip other students' and 'I will not make uncomplimentary remarks about other people' one hundred times each, to be turned in to me Monday. And the next person I find bullying Luna in some way will get a week of detention and be reported to Professor Flitwick! Have I made myself clear?"

His friends stared at him in shock, for he had never snapped like this before, while a number of other Ravenclaws nodded, some with varying degrees of fright. Penelope Clearwater, the sixth year female prefect, added, "And I will do the same if I find anyone bullying Miss Lovegood or any other student."

When Unity met that afternoon, a very annoyed Morag related what had happened at breakfast. Everyone not in Ravenclaw was quite indignant when they heard about Luna's treatment by some of her housemates, but cheered up when they heard that the prefects, or three of them at any rate, were defending her. Ry was of the opinion that the culprits should have gotten more than just a single detention. He felt that a week of detention cleaning various locations in the castle without magic with Filch would be better,

"That might be going a bit too far," said Hannah hesitantly. "All they did was hide Luna's robes and trip her. While I think that's terrible, no teacher would think that it warranted a week of detention, except maybe Snape, and it would depend on the circumstances."

"It's all right," said Luna in her usual dreamy tone. "I don't want to cause trouble for anyone. I am rather different from most people, after all."

Bianca shot to her feet and in a flash stood in front of Luna. "You aren't causing trouble, it's close-minded idiots like Hagatha and Sour that are doing it! They're-"

"Who's Sour?" interrupted Daphne, looking confused.

"Sorrel," replied Bianca impatiently. "Because she's a sour person, like the plant she's named after. Anyway, Luna, you are the most wonderful person I have ever met. I don't care about your differences from others, because they make you unique and it shows that you go by the saying 'Be who you are, for those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.' But there is such a thing as going too far with it."

Luna merely shrugged in reply. "Things could be worse, Bianca. I could not have you standing up for me and have to deal with unpleasant people on my own. Unity is rather nice, don't you think? Being a part of this group is like having friends."

Everyone was shocked by this pronouncement. "Luna Lovegood!" exclaimed Bianca. "Haven't you realized that I consider you to be my best friend?"

"And you are our friend," said Anthony rather weakly, still in shock over what Luna had said. "Anyone that's in Unity is a friend, or has the potential to be one, or they wouldn't be in this group. As long as they're second or first year, at any rate."

"We like the fact that you are unique," said Mari firmly. "We don't believe all the stuff you say, but everyone is entitled to their own beliefs. You are a very lovely girl underneath your, er, uniqueness, and are a true and loyal friend, so we all like you and consider you a friend."

Bianca sat back down and James reached over and patted Luna on the arm. "See? You have friends, fifty-one of them, with twenty-one in your year. And one of them is your best friend."

Luna smiled brightly. "The same could be said of everyone else in Unity, then. The having fifty-one friends part, that is." Looks were exchanged and it was decided to change the subject.

After a quick dinner, James headed for the Quidditch pitch, as Ravenclaw was holding tryouts for a chaser (one of them had graduated) and reserve positions. A fourth-year boy named Roger Davies got the Chaser spot and fifth-year Rebecca Andrews was the reserve. Cho Chang, a third-year, was made the reserve Seeker. She flew very well and did better than all her competition, though she wasn't as good as James, but came close. He couldn't help noticing that she was very pretty, and was also quite nice, especially when compared to her friend Marietta Edgecombe. Cho was taking part in inter-house cooperation with others in her year, and she hadn't been heard to insult Luna like Marietta did.

The next morning, an irate Mari went over to the Ravenclaw table and snapped, "I wanted to try out for the Slytherin team this year, since Higgs graduated, but now I can't! That horrible Draco Malfoy got made Seeker, and he simply bought his way as his father bought new brooms for the entire team! They left to practice now, and it seems they got Snape to write them a note allowing them to use the Pitch when they know perfectly well that the Gryffindor team booked it for this morning."

James made a face. "Well, since Malfoy bought his way onto the team, then he wouldn't necessarily be a Seeker," he pointed out. "And maybe it's best that you didn't get to try out, Mari. I have no idea how I would react if I had to face you on the Pitch, since you're one of my two best friends and all."

Mari snorted. "We'd do the best we could to catch the Snitch first and there would be no hard feelings afterwards, James. That's what would happen. Hey, why is Sirius here?"

James swivled around to see that Sirius had entered the Great Hall, a huge grin on his face. He strode up to staff table, did a spell to make his voice louder, and said, "Excuse me, but I have an announcement to make. For those who don't know me, I'm Sirius Black. Anyway, I decided to make a donation to the Hogwarts Quidditch teams, in the form of brooms. I originally was going to get brooms for all the houses, but then it came to my attention that Lucius Malfoy has already done so for the Slytherin team. So therefore that means I had seven less brooms to buy. On Monday, twenty-one Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones, the latest and fastest broom currently available, will be delivered to the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor Quidditch teams. Don't worry about having an unfair advantage over Slytherin, because those are the model of brooms Mr. Malfoy donated to them."

There instantly was a buzz of excited chatter from everyone except the Slytherins that didn't care about inter-house unity, which was about half the house. Sirius continued, "Use my gift well and have fun with Quidditch, now that each team is on a equal footing in terms of brooms." He then did the counterspell to make his voice return to normal and went over to the Ravenclaw table to talk with James, Stella, and Stuart. Stella had indeed guessed correctly about Sirius's surprise and was a bit annoyed at spending his money like that. On the other hand, she certainly didn't want Slytherin to have an unfair advantage over the other houses, and Sirius was really the only person that could afford twenty-one expensive brooms without using up all his money that wasn't connected with Slytherin.

After couple of hours after breakfast, James and a few others from Unity went down to visit Hagrid, managing to avoid running into Lockhart, who was leaving the gamekeeper's hut just as the group was walking up, by hiding behind some bushes. Hagrid's grumpy expression disappeared as soon as he saw who it was, and the group was delighted to find out that he didn't think much of Lockhart either. Unfortunately, he was the only person that had applied for the Defense job, so they were stuck with him as a teacher. James wished that Remus had applied, for he was good at Defense and Dumbledore didn't have any of the silly prejudices against werewolves and so would hire him.

Everyone politely took some of the toffee Hagrid offered, but didn't really eat them. After chattering about how their week had been so far and admiring the gigantic pumpkins Hagrid was growing, the six of them bid the gamekeeper farewell and headed up to the castle for lunch.


	6. Chapter 6

This chapter is dedicated to reviewer tabbycat1220.

A couple of weeks later, James was coming back from Quidditch practice and heard a voice that said, "_Rip...kill_." He stopped and looked around, but the only other people around was the rest of the team and they definitely wouldn't say anything like that. "Stuart, did you hear someone say something about killing?" he asked quietly.

Stuart gave him a funny look. "I certainly didn't hear anything like that, and I don't think anyone else did either. You must be hearing things, James."

James nodded, but he had a feeling that he wasn't hearing things, though why nobody else had heard the voice he didn't have any idea at all. Back in the common room, he told the other Ravenclaws in Unity about the voice and wrote it in his notebook so the other members wouldn't have to wait until tomorrow to hear about it. Nobody had any ideas about the voice, other than Luna, who asked, "Do you think that you heard some Wrackspurts? They can sometimes make noises that sound like words."

James barely refrained from rolling his eyes and answered, "I didn't see anyone or anything other than the rest of the team, and they definitely weren't the voice I heard."

"Oh, but Wrackspurts can become invisible," said Luna. "So you could have heard some."

"How can James have heard some if they don't even exist, Luna?" demanded Michael, sounding rather annoyed.

"They do to exist!" retorted Luna. "Just because you can't see them doesn't mean that they don't!"

"Calm down!" exclaimed James. "Let's not have an argument over whether a creature doesn't exist or not. Anyway, I really don't think it was Wrackspurts I heard."

"Maybe you heard a Blibbering Humdinger instead, James," suggested Luna. "They sometimes travel in walls, so people can't always see them."

Everyone exchanged exasperated looks, except for Bianca, who merely looked thoughtful, and James, who said patiently, "Luna, I don't think it was Bibbering Hum-whatevers either. The rest of the team would have heard if one of the creatures you believe in was the cause of the voice I heard."

"Maybe Stuart was right and you were just hearing things," said Su uncertainly. "Unless one of Luna's creatures does exist and you're the only person that can hear it."

James refrained from snorting or showing any other sign of skepticism, as he always tried to keep an open mind and liked Luna too well to hurt her feelings. He looked down at his notebook and saw that Hermione had replied. "_James_," she wrote, "_Hermione here. Are you sure you aren't hearing things? If not, then maybe you heard something that nobody else can hear. I'll look up into it tomorrow, and ask the rest of Unity to help._"

He quickly wrote back, "**There's no need, Hermione. I probably was hearing things.**" He really wasn't in the mood to devote Saturday in researching voices, and didn't want Unity to have to go through all that trouble. It wasn't like last year with researching Nicolas Flamel, after all.

"_If you're sure, James_," Hermione wrote back a minute later.

"**I'm sure_,_**" James wrote. "**Good-night, Hermione.**"

Unfortunately, a few days before Halloween, he heard the voice again. He looked around and then demanded, "Did you guys hear that voice?"

The others with him gave him strange looks. "What are you talking about?" asked Ryan. "You mean Padma's voice when she was talking about -"

"No, the other voice!" sinterrupted James. "It's the same one I heard a few weeks ago! It was talking about ripping and killing!"

"Are you sure you're feeling well, James?" asked Mandy, looking concerned. "We certainly didn't hear any voice like that."

"I'm not hearing things or going crazy!" snapped James. "I definitely heard a voice."

"Well, there's nothing around that's talking other than us, and we definitely didn't say anything about ripping or killing," said Terry, frowning.

James looked frustrated. "Well, then is the creature or person invisible? And why is it that only I can hear it?"

"Are you sure you're all right, James?" asked Lisa. "Hearing things that nobody else can isn't good, even in the wizarding world."

"I'm not crazy!" he retorted. "I'm just as sane as - as Luna!"

The others, except Luna and Bianca, exchanged looks, clearly not convinced. He realized his mistake and exclaimed, "Sorry, bad example. I mean I'm just as sane as, um, Anthony."

Anthony muttered, "Except that I'm not hearing things."

"Maybe I just have really good hearing," snapped James, thoroughly fed up with all this. "The point is I heard a voice and I'm not mad!"

"Okay," said Bianca soothingly. "We believe you, James. Tomorrow we'll do some research into this."

"I'll do it," said James. "You guys don't need to waste your time on this."

"Oh come on, you're our friend," said Lisa. "We're going to help. Besides, that's it says in our charter that we will help each other."

He decided not to argue, especially since he knew perfectly well that they weren't just doing it because Unity's charter said so.

Research the next afternoon turned up nothing, and they didn't continue after dinner as they had to focus some time on doing their homework.

Halloween arrived, and Unity still hadn't any idea as to what the voice was or why only James could hear it, unless you counted the theories Luna had of it being one of the creatures she believed in and that it was only allowing James to hear it. After the first one, the rest of Unity just ignored her, since they didn't want to offend her by arguing against it.

After the feast, all the student were leaving the Great Hall when an awful sight met their eyes. In a hallway near the girls' bathroom that was out of order, due to the weepy ghost that occupied it, according to the girls in Unity, Mrs. Norris was found apparently dead. Above her on the wall was written in what looked blood the words, "THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE!"

When Malfoy saw the writing, he shouted, "You'll be next Mudbloods!" A couple of Slytherins nearby quickly hushed him.

Filch then appeared on the scene, screaming about how his cat was killed. Lockhart made a comment on how terrible it was and that he could have prevented it. Professor Dumbledore then showed up, examined Mrs. Norris, and said, "Mrs. Norris isn't dead, Argus. She has merely been petrified."

Lockhart exclaimed that he had known that, which everyone ignored, and Filch wailed, "How did it happen? Someone had to have done it!"

"Well, everyone appeared to be at the feast, so I'm afraid we don't know who is responsible," replied Dumbledore. "However, rest assured that we will get to the bottom of this. As for Mrs. Norris, she can be revived. Professor Sprout has gotten Mandrake seedlings this year, and when they have matured, a potion can be made to revive Mrs. Norris."

"I can do it," said Lockhart cheerfully. "I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught -"

James snorted in disbelief as Snape interrupted curtly, "I believe I'm the Potions Master in Hogwarts."

There was an awkward pause, then Dumbledore said, "Students, please return to your common rooms. We will look further into Mrs. Norris's Petrification." A distraught Filch tenderly lifted his cat from the floor and headed for the direction fo the hospital wing.


	7. Chapter 7

This chapter is dedicated to momocolady.

Unity was not particularly happy at having another mystery to solve, since they had hoped for an uneventful and normal school year. While none of them really cared for Filch or his cat, they certainly had never wanted her to be Petrified, at least not like that. Temporary petrification with the Full-Body Bind would have been acceptable, since there was a quick counter-spell to it, but what Mrs. Norris went through required a Mandrake Restorative Draught, which took time to brew.

Other than Luna wondering if any of the creatures she believed in might have the power to Petrify people, Unity didn't have any theories as to how it could have happened. Since Mrs. Norris had been found near that out-of-order bathroom, Hermione worked up her courage to approach the ghost residing there, Moaning Myrtle, and asked if she had seen anything on Halloween night. Myrtle's reply was that after Peeves had insulted her at Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party, which was on Halloween, she had gone back to the bathroom to kill herself, only to realize that she was already dead. Actually, it was Tracey who rather untactfully pointed out the already being dead part, just set Myrtle off into tears again.

Hermione gave Tracey a reproachful look. Tracey tried to apologize, but Myrtle wouldn't listen, and in the end the girls that had gone to visit the ghost left the bathroom.

James borrowed Stella's copy of _Hogwarts, a History _and Unity perused it in order to find more information about this 'Chamber of Secrets'. It appeared that when Hogwarts had been built, one of the Founders, Salazar Slytherin, had included a secret chamber without telling the other Founders, and it housed a monster of some sort. However, the existence of this chamber had never been proven or denied, though supposedly it had been opened around fifty years ago. Unity did some more research into this, and discovered that evidence pointed to the Chamber of Secrets, if it really existed, had been opened, and the monster within had been set loose, resulting in the death of a student.

Courtsey of the Room of Requirement, Unity also found out that Hagrid had been expelled not long after the death of the student, and one Tom Riddle had won a Special Services Award to the school. Immediately several of them went to check the Trophy Room, which showed the award, plus a medal Riddle had gotten and his name on a list of old Head Boys.

"This is just great," said James angrily when he had finished writing everything down in his commonplace book. "Riddle was probably evil back in school, he just hid it and had the appearance of a model student. I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one responsible for that student's death and then decided to blame it on Hagrid. And so poor Hagrid gets framed for a crime he didn't commit and ends up expelled."

"That's just awful!" exclaimed Astoria, looking horrified. "But how could that have happened? Anyone who knows Hagrid can see that he wouldn't hurt a fly, except maybe in self-defense or to defend somebody else. He certainly wouldn't let a monster kill anyone."

"Yes, but who would the headmaster at the time believe?" asked Hermione. "Someone who looks like a model student, or someone who has a fondness of dangerous creatures?"

Everyone knew the answer to that, so didn't say anything, other than Luna who said that the Wrackspurts must have entered the mind of the headmaster and mixed up his thoughts so that he believed Riddle and not Hagrid. Mari then mentioned Riddle's blank diary that she'd found among her books, which Malfoy must have slipped to her that day in Diagon Alley, but assured the rest that she'd burned it. However, when she admitted that she hadn't actually looked to see the ashes, Bianca frowned and pointed out, "But what if there had been a spell on it to keep it from being burned? It's been used in the past when there used to be witch burnings, so any magical person caught wouldn't really be burned."

"Even if it hadn't been burned, it was still in the dustbin and the house-elves would have vanished it with the rest of the rubbish when they were cleaning," replied Mari.

At that, Hermione choked. "There are house-elves at Hogwarts? Like the one we met over the summer?"

"Hermione, the house-elves here aren't treated even remotely like how Dobby was," Mari answered. "Do you think Dumbledore would be like the Malfoys? So don't get the idea that they should be free or get paid or whatever."

"Hogwarts is a haven for them," added Bianca. "I read that Helga Hufflepuff made the school a haven for house-elves. They're treated well and are happy here. If you even suggested that they be given clothes, which is how you set a house-elf free, or get wages, they'd be horrified by the idea. Actually, all house-elves would be horrified, except maybe the few out there that are being treated terribly. And even then, they'd only want freedom in order to go find someone else to work for that would treat them well."

Hermione sighed. "At the very least, there should be laws concerning how house-elves should be treated. Dobby was dressed in a filthy and shabby pillowcase, and kept punishing himself until we asked him not to. And what he said basically told us that the Malfoys were being absolutely rotten to him."

"Well, when we graduate Hogwarts, we can do something about it," said Bianca. "We can lobby for house-elf rights and some of us can go work in the Department of the Control and Regulations of Magical Beings and get laws passed on decent treatment for them. We really can't do much now."

"I wish we could win Dobby's freedom, though," said James. "He was a bit weird, but he risked punishment just to warn us about a plot. If there were some way we could trick Mr. Malfoy into setting Dobby free, I would do it, and ask him to work for Unity if he can't find a job with another wizarding family, one that'll treat him decently."

Everyone looked thoughtful, and Wen-Jing said, "It would be useful to have a house-elf work for us. And we'd definitely treat Dobby much better than the Malfoys do."

The first Quidditch match of the year arrived. Since Slytherin didn't have the advantage of better brooms as they had hoped for, they resorted to dirty tricks that resulted in eight fouls in Gryffindor's favor. Gryffindor made seven of the fouls, and then Grace managed to catch the Snitch before Malfoy, resulting in a win of two hundred and sixty points to seventy.

The match after that was the one between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Both teams were tied until James caught the Snitch, winning the match for Ravenclaw, two hundred and thirty points to eighty. Roger Davies did pretty well, scoring two goals and assisting Stuart in another. However, right after James caught the Snitch, one of the Bludgers hit him in the arm, breaking it. The idiot Lockhart came over, ignoring all protests that Madam Pomfrey would take care of things, and in his attempt to heal the break, ended up removing the bones instead.

Needless to say, Madam Pomfrey was furious, first at James, then at Lockhart when she heard that he had insisted on trying to heal the arm despite everyone saying that James was going to the hospital wing. He had to spend the night after downing Skele-Gro, which was quite nasty-tasting.

Sometime during the night, James woke up, feeling a prickling pain in his arm, and a few minutes later, Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore came in, carrying a Petrified Colin Creevy, clutching his camera in his hands. Madam Pomfrey bustled out her room and asked what had happened. James silently groaned as he realized that Colin must have snuck out to visit him and see how he was doing and ended up being attacked. If Dumbledore hadn't gone to get something to drink, according to McGonagall, who knows what else might have happened.

Dumbledore pulled the camera out of Colin's grasp, but when he opened it, there was a hiss and James saw that the film in it had been destroyed, probably melted. McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey wondered how it could have happened, and Dumbledore's response was simply that his worst fears had been confirmed, that the Chamber of Secrets was open again.

When the adults had left, James got out of bed to stand next to Colin's bed. "Oh, why did you have to decide to come visit me, Colin?" he asked in a whisper. "Just because you're in Unity doesn't mean that you should have to break the rules just to see how I'm doing. And I know I don't like doctors or Healers that much, but I can still put up them when it's absolutely necessary. Now you end up being Petrified like Mrs. Norris. This is just horrible."

The next morning, after he was allowed to leave, James headed directly to the Room of Requirement, where all of Unity was rather somber over what happened to Colin. James told them what he had heard Dumbledore say about the Chamber of Secrets being open again. "This is completely rotten," said Ginny. "Colin was lucky not have been killed. Why was he even attacked? He's a bit excitable, but he's really nice and a good friend. Besides, he was only excitable because he's Muggleborn and wanted to know everything about the wizarding world."

Nobody said anything, not even Luna with one of her theories. They just exchanged sad looks and then started doing research on what kind of creature could be Petrifying people.


	8. Chapter 8

Unity didn't have much luck in finding any creature that could Petrify someone, and for once, Luna didn't mention any of the creatures she believed in. That might have been mainly due to the fact that none of them could Petrify someone, however. Many students were nervous, and wondered who the Heir of Slytherin could be. Malfoy, however, went around with a smirk, pleased with what was going on. He dropped hints that he knew who was responsible for everything, and kept glancing at Mari whenever he made them. Finally Mari had enough and snapped, "If you're trying to say that I'm responsible, Draco Malfoy, then think again. I found a blank diary among my books and promptly burned it when I saw whom the previous owner was. Do you think I'm stupid enough to keep something belonging to Tom Riddle, later known as Voldemort?"

Malfoy flinched at the name, then looked shocked and furious. "You- you-" He couldn't think of anything else to say other than to curse loudly, and then disappeared, probably to write to his father about it.

A few days later, there was a notice for a Dueling Club that was starting. All of Unity elected to go, and wondered who would be running it. James hoped that it was his head of house, for Flitwick was said to have been a dueling champion in his youth. He groaned when he saw that Lockhart was the running it, but cheered up a bit when he found out that Snape had volunteered to help out. Perhaps Snape would do something good to Lockhart.

The two teachers stood up front to demonstrate. Snape shouted, "_Expelliarmus_!" and disarmed Lockhart, who pretended to have known all along what was going to happen and let Snape Disarm him in order to show the charm. Then the two teachers began pairing students up so that they could practice Disarming. James was paired with Terry and looked sympathetic when he saw that Ron had been paired with Malfoy.

When dueling began, only the pairs that consisted of Unity members actually tried to Disarm each other. Pandemonium ensued among the others that either had only one member of Unity, or none at all. Parvati, who had been paired with Pansy, ended up not using her wand as the two ended up in a physical struggle. Malfoy attacked Ron before Lockhart could finish counting to three. Instead of disarming, Ron hit Malfoy with a Leg-Locker Curse, who in turn did a spell that set Ron off into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. Snape put an end to the spells and a disheveled Lockhart halted things, saying that perhaps he should teach them to block unfriendly spells. He then called Ron and Malfoy up to demonstrate.

Snape whispered some advice in Malfoy's ear, while Lockhart didn't offer anything of use to Ron, instead dropping his wand when trying to demonstrate. Then the two students faced each other, and Malfoy shouted, "_Serpensortia_!" James saw a brief flash of surprise and shock on Snape's face. Obviously he had not told Malfoy to do that spell during his advice.

Before Snape could do something to get rid of the snake that appeared, Lockhart rushed forward, shouting, "Let me!" His spell did not work of course, only causing a bang that angered the snake as it flew up and landed near Justin, who looked frozen with fright as it approached him.

Without thinking, James ran forward and yelled, "Leave him alone!" To his utter surprise, the snake stopped and lay docilely on the ground. With an odd expression on his face, Snape vanished the snake. Everyone else was staring at James in shock, who was confused with all the attention, and wondered why Justin wasn't thanking him for coming to the rescue.

The meeting ended and all of Unity went straight to the Room of Requirement. Once settled inside, Morag demanded, "Why didn't you tell us that you're a Parselmouth, James?"

"A what?" asked James, puzzled.

"Someone who can talk to snakes," Bianca said impatiently. "Like Salazar Slytherin and his descendents."

"Oh," said James, suddenly remembering what he'd read. "But I'm not one! I would know if I could speak to snakes!"

"Well, you certainly spoke to that snake back in the Great Hall," said Kyle. "I don't know what you said, since it was just hissing to me, but from the way the snake just stopped and lay down, I guess you told it to stop or leave Justin alone or something like that."

"I told it to leave Justin alone," replied James. "So all you guys heard was hissing noises?"

The rest of Unity nodded. "Thanks for rescuing me, James, but that was rather scary," said Justin with a shudder. "If you weren't my friend, I might have thought you were egging the snake on or something."

James would have been annoyed at that, but if the situation had been reversed, he would probably feel the same. He sighed and said, "What does it mean now?"

"Anyone not in Unity or doesn't know you well will think that you're the Heir of Slytherin," said Hermione, shaking her head.

"But I'm not!" protested James. "I would know if I were descended from Salazar Slytherin! Only Riddle's descended from him, I think."

"Well, not everyone knows that," pointed out Susan reasonably. "They could very well believe that you're the Heir."

"I'm more likely descended from Gryffindor!" snapped James. "And Colin's my friend! I would never want him to be attacked, so anyone with brains would know that I'm not the Heir."

"Do you really expect everyone at school to think so logically?" asked Anthony.

James groaned, knowing that Anthony was right. "It's not so bad, James," said Mari. "All of Unity's on your side, and I know your siblings are too. And there are going to be some other students that believe you aren't the Heir, like Fred and George."

"Knowing them, they'd probably make a joke out of it," added Ron with a grin.

James cheered up and then the group returned to their respective common rooms. However, he was no longer happy the next day when he saw that many students, the majority all older than him, were whispering and shooting him dark looks as he passed. Herbology was canceled due to the heavy snow and Professor Sprout saying that she was the only person that could really deal with the Mandrakes at the moment.

It was even worse when that afternoon, Justin and Nearly-Headless Nick were found to be Petrified. Several students would have accused James of it, except his dormmates all said that he had been in the Ravenclaw common room with them all afternoon, except for a trip to the bathroom, and Michael and Terry had gone with him then. Lisa also pointed out that Justin was their friend and a member of Unity, and none of them would ever attack a friend.

After that, nobody said anything about James being the Heir of Slytherin, though it was obvious that there were many students that weren't convinced and several wondered if perhaps Unity had been deluded or bewitched. The only two people that mentioned James being the Heir were Fred and George, and as they were making a joke out of it, Unity didn't mind. In fact, James was pleased that the Weasley twins thought that the fact he could be the Heir of Slytherin was ridiculous, though Percy was not amused. He tried to tell them off, but Fred merely said, "You're blocking our way, Percy. James is late to meet his fanged servant for a cup of tea."

The first-year Ravenclaws not in Unity seemed to agree that James wasn't the Heir of Slytherin, but it was only because they were pinning it on Luna. They hadn't been bothering her since the beginning of October, but now started up again. Stella completely lost her temper when she walked into the common room one afternoon and found Agatha and her friends insisting that Luna must have had something to do with the attacks, though the Ravenclaws in Unity were standing up for her.

"That is enough!" she snapped, glaring at the three girls and two boys. "I thought I made it clear that you guys were to leave Luna alone! But I suppose I wasn't clear enough. Perhaps this will make you listen! Each of you have just lost fifty points for our house. You also have a week's detention, and I will inform Professor Flitwick precisely why Ravenclaw has just lost two hundred fifty points. I have never been more ashamed that members of our house could behave like this."

"You can't take off so many points!" protested Sorrel. "In fact, prefects can't take points off at all!"

"You are mistaken," Stella said flatly. "If you read the rules on what prefects can and cannot do, you'd know that prefects can take off points, though only from their own house. Which means I can take off up to fifty points at a time from one person in Ravenclaw, but would be unable to take off even one point from the other three houses."

"But you can't want Ravenclaw to lose that many points!" cried Darryl.

Stella gave him a Look, then replied, "If it will put a stop to Luna being bullied, then I don't care how many points we lose. Now, I am going to speak with Professor Flitwick."

Once she was gone, many of the older Ravenclaws began muttering angrily at the fact that five first-years had just lost them two hundred and fifty points. When Agatha muttered angrily that it was all Luna's fault and that she should have been Petrified, Penelope Clearwater gave Agatha another detention and threatened to take another fifty points if she didn't shut up. The Ravenclaw members of Unity stayed out of it and left for the Room of Requirement to continue their research.

Following the double attack, Unity had worked harder to find out what creature could be Petrifying people. With two of their members and a ghost (who being dead normally wouldn't be harmed by much) in the Hospital Wing, they were determined to get to the bottom of things.

It wasn't until the day before the Christmas holidays that they finally figured out that it could be a basilisk Petrifying everyone. Normally its gaze killed you, but as none of the ones attacked had seen it directly, other than Nearly-Headless Nick, who couldn't die again, they were only Petrified. They also guessed that the basilisk would have to be traveling through the school via the plumbing, and it explained why only James could hear the voice about ripping and killing. The only thing Unity couldn't figure out was the location of the Chamber of Secrets and how it was being opened, though Mari was beginning to wonder if the diary had something to do with it, that is if there had been a spell on it that kept it from being burned. If that was the case, then somebody else could have gotten hold of the diary, and she was furious with herself for not checking to see if it had been burned.

The rest of Unity told her that she had no idea of knowing if the diary had such a spell or not, and that they could have done the same if they'd had gotten it. Mari calmed down then, but she still wished she had checked.

James updated his commonplace book and when he went home for the holidays, asked Sirius and Remus for advice. They had no idea as to where the Chamber of Secrets was located in Hogwarts, that being the only thing the Marauders had never found, but told him that it was best if Unity stayed out of it and that they would tell Dumbledore what had been found out. James agreed with them and focused on enjoying his holidays.


	9. Chapter 9

The Christmas holidays ended and it was time to return to Hogwarts. Though Sirius and Remus had spoken with Dumbledore, James still felt frustrated with things. Nobody had any idea as to where the Chamber of Secrets was located, so it wasn't as if someone could go down there with a rooster to kill the basilisk. And even if the location was known, there was still the matter of getting a rooster, as Hagrid had reported that all his roosters had been killed. Unity suspected that whomever was opening the Chamber had also killed the roosters.

On the first evening back, Dumbledore advised everyone to carry a mirror with them at all times and use it to look around corners until the matter concerning the Chamber of Secrets and the attacks were over. Those not in Unity or connected to James in some way looked confused until Dumbledore said, "I strongly suggest you do this, unless you perfer being dead to being Petrified. The others that were attacked were extremely lucky to have only been Petrified and not dead."

At that, everyone did as suggested, having a mirror handy at all times and using it to look around corners and such.

At the end of January, however, there was a triple attack. This time, the targets were Hermione, Millicent, and Penelope Clearwater. Unity was distraught that two more of their members had been targeted, and several questioned why Millie had been attacked until Daphne said, "Millie's a halfblood, not a pureblood. Her mother's Muggleborn."

Following the attack, there were more stringent methods to keep the students safe. Everyone had to be in their respective common rooms by seven o'clock in the evening, other than the prefects and Head Boy and Girl, who had to patrol the hallways. Nobody was to go to the bathroom alone, and teachers would escort students to their next class at the conclusion of each one. That meant Unity could no longer meet and had to communicate via their notebooks, which was rather frustrating.

To top it off, Hagrid was taken to Azkaban as a 'precautionary measure', though he didn't have anything to do with the attacks. Unity was incensed by this, but as Minister Fudge had been the one to insist on this, there was nothing they could do.

Finally things came to a head on Valentine's Day. Lockhart had attempted to cheer everyone up by decorating the Great Hall and hiring dwarves dressed up as cupids to deliver valentines. While some of the female population didn't mind and were in fact overcome with giggles, the rest of the school weren't that pleased. (Though Unity did exchange platonic valentines they had made.) Some of the girls in Unity ducked into a bathroom to escape the dwarves that morning and it turned out to be the one haunted by Moaning Myrtle.

She was in tears, for someone had thrown a book at her earlier that day and tried to flush it down the toilet, and even though she was a ghost and couldn't feel it, it still didn't excuse things. Susan, Tracey, and Mandy tried to comfort her, while Parvati picked up the book. It turned out to be a diary, and she gasped when she saw "Property of T.M. Riddle" in the cover.

That was when she remembered reading that the girl who had died the last time the Chamber was opened had been found in a bathroom. "Myrtle, how did you die?" she asked urgently.

Myrtle instantly stopped crying and actually looked sort of flattered, while Tracey, Susan, and Mandy gave Parvati puzzled looks.

"Ooooh, it was dreadful," she answered with great relish. "It happened right in here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then —" Myrtle swelled importantly, her face shining. "I died."

"How?" asked Susan, realizing what Parvati was getting at by asking Myrtle how she died.

"No idea," said Myrtle in hushed tones. "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away…" She looked at the three girls. "And then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."

"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" demanded Mandy.

"Somewhere there," said Myrtle, pointing vaguely toward the sink in front of her toilet. The three girls immediately rushed towards it.

It looked like an ordinary sink. They examined every inch of it, inside and out, including the pipes below. And then Tracey saw it: Scratched on the side of one of the copper taps was a tiny snake.

"That tap's never worked," said Myrtle brightly as she tried to turn it.

The four girls turned and looked at each other in a mix of horror and excitement. It looked as if they had discovered the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, though they suspected that the ability to speak Parseltongue was needed to open it. When Parvati showed the diary, the other three realized that it must have something to do with it, and that there definitely was a spell to keep it from being destroyed, or at least from being burned. It was clear to them that someone must have picked up the diary after Mari had tried to destroy it, decided to use it, and eventually decided to get rid of it. Too bad flushing it hadn't worked, and only served to upset Myrtle.

"Mandy and Parvati, please tell the rest of Unity what we've discovered via the notebooks," said Tracey urgently. "Susan and I will take this diary to Dumbledore and let him handle things."

Dumbledore examined the blank diary, and discovered that Riddle had done something to it, enabling the memory of his sixteen-year old self to be perserved in it. It was also similar to the notebooks that Unity used, except that this one only allowed you to write to the memory of Riddle and he would write back, and involved the use of Dark Magic. Through writing in it, it was discovered that Agatha Redding was the one that had picked up the diary and was writing in it. It appeared that she was writing out her frustrations against Luna, Stella, and Unity in general and the memory of Riddle was quite sympathetic in his replies, not liking the concept of a united Hogwarts at all. However, Agatha was lately sensing that the diary wasn't so good after all, and that maybe she might have had something to do with the attacks, and that was probably why she tried to get rid of it.

The end result was Dumbledore conjuring a rooster and then summoning James, who was the only person in the school that could speak Parseltongue. After a couple of tries, in which James ended up having to pretend the carved snake was real, he was able to open the Chamber. Dumbledore went down himself with the rooster and used his cry to destroy the basilisk located there. Then he used the venom contained in one of its fangs to destroy the diary, leaving a gaping hole in it. When he returned, he explained that there had been spells on the diary so that it couldn't be destroyed by ordinary means, but only by methods that didn't have much in the way of antidotes or counterattacks, like basilisk venom.

That was when the rest of Unity showed up to find out what had happened, along with Lucius Malfoy and Dobby, who looked as if he had been in the middle of polishing Mr. Malfoy's shoes. "I'm very sorry, Dumbledore," began Mr. Malfoy, "but with that triple attack a couple of weeks ago, the school governers think that it's time for you to step down."

"Actually, the attacks have stopped," said Dumbledore mildly. "I have discovered that a basilisk was the one responsible for them, and after finding the location to the Chamber of Secrets earlier this afternoon, have just gone there and destroyed it the aid of this rooster. You are welcome to come with me and see the body."

Mr. Malfoy looked taken aback. "You stopped everything?" he demanded.

"Of course," responded Dumbledore, smiling. "And rather than wait for the Mandrakes we have growing mature, I have instead put in an order for mature Mandrakes at the Apothecary. They will be delivered in a few days time and then our own Professor Snape will brew a potion to revive all those that have been Petrified."

"I see," said Mr. Malfoy, masking his disappointment and anger. "And did you find out who had been opening the Chamber?"

"The same person as last time, Lucius," said Dumbledore. "But this time, Lord Voldemort was acting through somebody else. By means of this diary."

He held up the small black book with the large hole through the center, watching Mr. Malfoy closely. James, however, was watching Dobby, and saw that the rest of Unity was doing the same.

The elf was doing something very odd. His great eyes fixed meaningfully on Mari, he kept pointing at the diary, then at Mr. Malfoy, and then hitting himself hard on the head with his fist. Mari quickly gave him a nod understanding, though she, nor the rest of Unity, needed the hint since they already knew that Mr. Malfoy had something to do with it.

"Excuse me, Mr. Malfoy," interrupted Mari. "but I believe you know about this diary. In fact, you had your son Draco pass it on to me when he bumped into me at Flourish and Blotts amd caused my bag of books to spill. As Draco no doubt told you, I tried to destroy it. I guess it didn't work and someone else picked it up and decided to write in it. I suppose you wanted me to write in it and make me the one responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets and causing the attacks."

"Prove it," hissed Mr. Malfoy.

"Well, the diary is destroyed, so we can't do so now," said Ry. "However, I suggest that you don't hand out any more of Moldydork's school things. If they end up in innocent hands, especially my cousin's, I have parents that would be quite happy to trace them back to you. I don't think Minister Fudge would be particularly pleased with you, especially if it ends up causing a situation with Japan. Minister Kishi would not be happy to discover that there were plots against her relatives."

Lucius Malfoy stood for a moment, and James distinctly saw his right hand twitch as though he was longing to reach for his wand. Instead, he turned to his house-elf. "We're going, Dobby!"

He wrenched open the door and as the elf came hurrying up to him, he kicked him right through it. They could hear Dobby squealing with pain all the way along the corridor.

Mari turned to Dumbledore. "Professor Dumbledore, may I please give the diary back to Mr. Malfoy?"

"Of course," said the headmaster, his eyes twinkling.

The rest of Unity looked puzzled, except James and Kyle, who realized instantly what Mari was planning. James immediately took off one shoe and removed his sock, thinking that it would be best if Dobby was given an item of clothing that didn't belong to a girl, as he was a male elf.

Once Mari stuffed the sock in the diary, the rest of Unity figured out what she was up to. They followed her as she rushed down the corridor after Mr. Malfoy and Dobby.

She caught up with them at the top of the stairs and the rest of Unity arrived a few seconds later. "Mr. Malfoy, I have something for you," Mari said, thrusting the diary in his hand.

He looked down at it, then handed it to Dobby, a furious look on his face. "What do you think you're doing, Miss Kishi? You're ruining-"

"That is enough, Mr. Malfoy," interrupted Mari, a sweet smile on her face. "You really don't want to insult the cousin of the Minister for Magic of Japan and the Japanese ambassadors."

Mr. Malfoy snarled, as Kyle mouthed for Dobby to open the diary. The elf did so and was quite startled to find the sock. It quickly turned to delight and he stared at the sock as if it was a priceless treasure when Mr. Malfoy curtly ordered him to come along.

Dobby didn't move, but instead said in wonderment, "Master has given a sock. Master has given it to Dobby."

Looking annoyed and puzzled, Mr. Malfoy turned to Dobby, saying, "What are you talking about? I didn't give you-" His voice trailed off as he saw the sock in Dobby's hand.

He then looked at Mari, who was smirking. His gaze then rested on the rest of Unity, who looked smug about the whole matter, and saw James lift up his robes, revealing that he only had one sock on. "You've lost me my servant, you wretched children! Wait until your relatives hear about this, Miss Kishi!"

"I don't think they'll care," said Ry. "My parents definitely won't. You see, Japan has laws about how house-elves are treated. They can't be abused, and if one is found to be abused, then the owner has to pay a fine and set the elf free. Then he or she is found a new family to work for, one that won't be abusive. Since this isn't Japan, you won't have to pay a fine, and I'm sure my parents will give you fifty Galleons to recompense you for the loss of Dobby."

Mr. Malfoy snapped, "I will most definitely have your parents repay me for the loss of my servant!" With that, he stalked down the stairs in bad humor.

When he was out of sight, Dobby thanked Unity for helping set him free. "It was nothing," said Mari with a smile. "You took the risk of warning us about a plot at Hogwarts, with me being the main target. And we really didn't like the way you were being treated, and had a feeling that you would want to be free from the Malfoys."

"And Dobby, if you can't find a new family to work for, come to us," added James. "Unity will hire you and we definitely will be nice to you."

"Thank you, sirs and misses," said Dobby, bowing deeply.

"Wait a minute and we'll get something for you to wear other than that old pillowcase," said Sally-Ann. As they were nearest the Hufflepuff and Slytherin common rooms, Ernie and Theo went off to get some of their clothes. They returned a few minutes later with a sweater, pair of pants, and a sock that was the same color as the one James had given up, black. Mari shrunk them so that they would fit Dobby and handed them to him.

"Thank you," Dobby said over and over, tears of gratitude welling up in his eyes. He then disappeared to change.

When he returned a few minutes later, dressed in his new clothing, he timidly asked, "Would Unity want to hire Dobby now? Dobby is wanting to work for you and is not wishing to look for a new family."

"Of course," said Mari, and the others nodded their agreement. "Though there's not that much we would need you to do, so if it's all right with Professor Dumbledore and you, we would have you work with the Hogwarts house-elves whenever we didn't have you do something for us."

"Dobby would like that," said Dobby, bowing again. "Dobby is liking to work." Then he hesitantly asked, "Can Dobby be getting payment for his work?"

"Yes, you can," said James, thinking that Hermione would be happy to hear that once she was revived. "We'll work something out. How much do you want to be paid, Dobby?"

"Er, one Knut a month?"

"That's ridiculous!" exclaimed Kyle. "You are most certainly going to be paid more than that, and you'll have time off too. There's fifty-two of us in Unity, and fifty-two weeks in a year, so I think we can take turns paying your salary each week. I think we can each afford to give up a Galleon a year, can't we?"

Everyone nodded, and Bianca continued, "And you can have weekends off, Dobby."

"Oh no, Dobby is not wanting so much time off!" protested Dobby, looking somewhat horrified.

"Will one Sunday a month off do?" asked Morag. "And of course Christmas and New Year's too."

Dobby looked happier with that and accepted it. "Oh, and you're free to insult any of us if you like," said James with a smile. "You could call me a pompus windbag, for example. Just keep our secrets, though."

"Dobby will be doing that," stated Dobby emphatically. "And Dobby is not going to insult Unity. I is liking you too much to do that."

"All right, Dobby," said Mari. "We'll ask Professor Dumbledore if you can work with the Hogwarts elves when we don't need you. When the four Petrified members of Unity have been revived, we'll let them know what's happened and the entire group will figure out your duties for us."

Dumbledore was quite happy to allow Dobby to work at Hogwarts when he wasn't doing anything for Unity. The elf then went off to the kitchens to begin working, as Unity had nothing for him to do at the moment. Agatha Redding was summoned to the Headmaster's office, where presumably she was told about what the diary and what it had done to her.

When she left the office, she looked subdued, and apologized to Luna and the rest of Unity. Luna cheerfully accepted the apology and the rest of Unity went along, though it was clear that not everyone was quite ready to fully forgive Agatha.

At dinner that evening, Dumbledore announced that a basilisk was the creature Petrifying students, members of Unity had found the location of the Chamber of Secrets, and that he had personally seen to the destruction of the basilisk. He didn't mention the diary or that Agatha had been possessed, and Unity didn't say anything about it either, though other students pressed them for details. Hagrid also returned the next day.

When the ones that had been Petrified were revived a week later, Colin, Justin, Hermione, and Millicent were updated on things. Hermione was very pleased to hear that Dobby had been set free, was working for Unity, and was being paid for his work. She did think he ought to be paid more and get more days off, until the others pointed out that he wanted less than weekends off, had orginally asked for one Knut a month, and that not everyone in Unity could afford to pay him ten Galleons a week or something similar.

With an end to the attacks, the remainder of term passed rather peacefully. Ravenclaw won the Quidditch Cup for the second year in a row, which moved them up to second place for the House Cup. Lockhart was revealed to be a fraud when someone who had known the witch that had really been responsible for defeating the Bandon Banshee went to the _Daily Prophet_ with it toward the end of term. He fled Hogwarts before he could be brought in for questioning and not many people were sad to see him go.

When it came time for the House Cup to be awarded, Dumbledore dished out some last minute points to Unity for finding out about the basilisk and Chamber of Secrets. The end result was that, like last year, all four houses were tied for the Cup, and he said that it would stay that way. After that, exam results came out, and the members of Unity had the top marks in their respective years. Everyone then packed up to return home for the holidays, and it was arranged for Dobby to work at the Black home for the summer. Unity boarded the Hogwarts Express and sincerely hoped that next year would not be so action-packed.

Author's Note: I really wanted second year to be over, and since things are different, it would be conceivable for Unity to figure things out much sooner and get Dumbledore to help get rid of the basilisk. I hope nobody minds. The sequal, _Unity and the Escaped Rodent of Azkaban_ will be up shortly, hopefully in a few days.


	10. Author's Note

The first chapter of the sequal, _Unity and the Escaped Rodent of Azkaban_, is up now. Please go and read it. Thank you.


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